A manager of an adult book store is found dead In the late afternoon of a Thursday in March of 1977, a sense of unease settled over the Twin City Shopping Plaza on the Barre-Montpelier Road in Berlin, Vermont. Inside the Adult Book Store, its manager, 31-year-old Norman Lee Mercier, was nearing the end of his shift. Around 4:45 p.m., a commotion emanated from within the store, audible to those in neighboring establishments, though its significance was not immediately understood.
The sounds from the bookstore faded back into the everyday noise of the shopping plaza, leaving the violent encounter that had just transpired a secret held within its four walls.
It wasn't until nearly an hour later, at approximately 5:40 p.m., that the grim reality of the situation began to unfold. A friend of Mercier's, who worked at another store in the plaza, stopped by for a visit. Upon entering, they were met with a scene of disarray. A table was overturned, and merchandise was scattered across the floor, suggesting a violent struggle had taken place. Behind the front door, the friend found Mercier, gravely wounded but still clinging to life. He was attempting to speak, to convey the identity of his assailant or the events that had led to his injuries, but the words would not come.
Emergency services were called, and Mercier was rushed to a local hospital. Despite the efforts of medical staff, his injuries were too severe. Norman Lee Mercier, a male, died at approximately 10:00 p.m. on March 24, 1977. An autopsy would later reveal that he had been shot. The investigation that followed painted a puzzling picture for law enforcement. The store had been ransacked, yet robbery did not appear to be the primary motive, as only $16 had been taken from the nearly $1,000 that was in the cash register. Evidence suggested that the assailant had spent a considerable amount of time in the store before the attack.
Despite a thorough investigation by the Vermont State Police, the case grew cold. No suspects were ever publicly identified, and no arrests have ever been made in connection with the murder of Norman Lee Mercier. The story of the bookstore manager, attacked in his place of work on a quiet Thursday evening, has become one of Vermont's lingering unsolved homicides, a somber tale of a life cut short by an unknown assailant for reasons that remain a mystery to this day.
